As known in the art, routers are used to direct and reconfigure electronic traffic in and between communications networks, and are often located at the interface between two networks. Distributed routers generally use several similar or identical components that operate in parallel to provide increased capacity and redundancy. Load balancing is typically used to distribute the workload among the distributed router components.
Routers are sometimes used as wireless gateways to wireless networks. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,694, issued Apr. 17, 2001, to Lazaridis et al. and assigned to Research in Motion Limited discloses a system for communicating with mobile devices, in which a wireless gateway is employed.
A common concern with routers is that messages may be lost when a router component malfunctions or shuts down. This is particularly a concern when the router is a gateway to a wireless network in which mobile devices may run out of power, go out of range, or be turned off during a communications session. Lost messages can also be a concern when the router is gateway to a high latency wired network, such as a telephone modem connection, for example. Thus, there is a need for a router configuration and method that minimizes occurrences of lost messages, particularly in the context of high latency communications networks such as wireless networks.